Monday, August 07, 2006

pillowy goodness

Last week, I decided that we needed new pillows for our living room. We currently have a hand-me-down couch from my grandmother. It's a sensible, sturdy piece of Ethan Allen furniture, the good Yankee that my granny is.

She even gave us the two pillows that she got with it.Serviceable, but not really my style. And, getting kind of grungy looking. So, I decided to whip up some pillow covers, in the style of Denyse Schmidt.

I went shopping. I got some fat quarters.

And some quarter yard cuts off the bolt (quarter included for scale).Then I shopped the stash. Not my stash, as I'm still a rookie at this sewing and quilting thing, but my mom's stash. She used to quilt a lot (circa 1987, according to the dates printed on the selvages of the fabric...)I got to work. I made a few templates.And thought about color layouts.And then I cut, and sewed, and quilted, and ironed. And did all the above again for pillow #2. After all was said and done, I ended up with these cuties.Much better!

I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do this (not that it's that hard), for NOT following a pattern, and for letting my instinct lead as to colors and placements. I think I got some pretty good results for the first time through. I could definitely get into this machine quilting thing, especially when the desired end result is a little bit random and less than typically "perfect".

The pillows are a little more "country" looking than I would like, but I wanted something to match the couch, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.

I had some batting remnants in my own stash already, and some blue thread. I also had an old blue chambray sheet -- with some stains and holes -- that I cut up to use for the backing of the quilted part, as well as the back of the pillow.

I only spent about $12 on new fabrics, and I only used a little of each piece. So, I'm now thinking about making some of the DS quilted potholders for the kitchen, using some of the leftover blues. Hmm, where can I buy insulated batting?

When I took quilting, my teacher said there is special fire-resistant "batting" - I don't remember if it was actually thick felt or what - that she recommended for potholders. Probably a store like Joann's has it.